Basically the problem is that insurance companies (medicare included) do not allow people to stock pile any significant amount of medication, typically no more than one month at a time. The trouble is, what if disaster strikes your community when you are on your last week or even last day of a medication? There has been quite a bit of discussion on this topic, especially in the aftermath of Katrina, but nothing has been done as far as I am aware.

This could be a matter of life or death to a diabetic patient, or any number of people whose lives depend on daily medications. On a related note, how would one get access to antibiotics or pain medications that are not OTC if they can't see a physician during a disaster? I noticed that DR's very own PSK contains a Z-Pak (antibiotic) and Vicodin (a prescription narcotic pain reliever - brand name for tylenol and codeine). How would you get access to these meds to create a complete PSK short of convincing your physician that you needed them in an event of an emergency?

What has anyone else done? Obviously you hope you never need these items, but as it is you simply cannot purchase antibiotics without a prescription, nuff said...